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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29527839">Petrichor</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/laeRtnsievol/pseuds/laeRtnsievol'>laeRtnsievol</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aang (Avatar) Is A Good Parent, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, F/M, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Protective Aang (Avatar), Protective Azula (Avatar), Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:41:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,498</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29527839</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/laeRtnsievol/pseuds/laeRtnsievol</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She almost killed him, he almost killed her. </p>
<p>Almost wasn't good enough.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang/Azula (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He wakes up with his vision blurry, familiar wind cooling his skin as his eyes begin to fully clear, his heart skipping a beat as he realizes he's not alone and he's flying with someone on top of Appa. </p>
<p>“Hello, Avatar.” the presence says to him as he looks over to see someone who he feels like he should know, but his brain is telling him he doesn't know who this female with black hair that seems to frame her face perfectly is. Her beauty undeniable as she looks at him as if he were something to be gazed at. </p>
<p>“Uh…” he tries to speak but all he does is stutter, his head feels like it's playing games with him but for the life of him he can't remember who this is, “I'm sorry but I really can't recall who you are, can you help me out here?” he adds a small laugh at the end but the situation is not even close to being funny, something is wrong but he just can't grasp what it is. </p>
<p>The female smirks but he sees a flicker of something in her eyes, beautiful golden eyes that seemed to dim when he asked her who she was, as if there were more history between them than he thought. He couldn't help but feel disappointed in himself more than anything for making this beautiful woman in front of him saddened from his actions. </p>
<p>“Avatar Aang, you of all people should know who sits currently in your presence.” she emphasizes the your in a way that makes his stomach curl but he pushes that feeling aside. </p>
<p>Instead he focuses on trying to remember, even if it's just a sliver. He's letting her down and he holds himself to higher standards than anyone else in the world, mainly because he's the Avatar and the people need him to be the best he can be.</p>
<p>Once again his mind draws a blank and he closes his eyes as he winces in anger with himself and this whole situation, drawing upon the air as he uses it to calm himself down and uses a chakra to help. </p>
<p>Then it hits him, memories come flying back like a wrecking ball swinging through his head. Pain, anger, sadness, and love all hit at once as he opens his eyes and locks onto the once more glowing golden eyes in front of him. </p>
<p>“Princess Azu… Azula?” he whispers and he doesn't know if it's to test her name out or to answer her question that she's been waiting for these past few seconds. </p>
<p>She nods her head and smiles at him and he feels like he's just got hit by one of Toph’s rocks, his hand reaching towards his forehead as the pain increases with the flood of memories. </p>
<p>“Avatar, we don't have much time left.” she tells him with such finality he can't help but be confused and attempt to argue with her.</p>
<p>“What do you mean princess?” he asks her awaiting a response that he would soon come to realize he never deserved. </p>
<p>She reaches over from her spot on Appa’s saddle and touches his cheek with her abnormally warm hand, a blue flicker in her golden eyes that practically seemed to be his eyes playing tricks with him. </p>
<p>Her eyes are filled with despair and he could probably smell it if he focuses hard enough, Aang wonders if they were ever close enough for her to be doing this because the memories are still beating his brain to a pulp. The only one he could draw upon to remember her name was one where she moaned it into his ear, his body was scolding hot but for some reason in that memory with her by his side he felt perfectly fine, but the memory ended there and he couldn't explore it more.</p>
<p>“Ava… Aang.” he watched as she swallows and he wonders if there's something else that caused her to stop speaking, “I need you to answer one question for me, why did you do it?”</p>
<p>He tilts his head in confusion but that's the worst decision he could've made in his predicament, her watches as her eyes begin to flick continuously in a color that matches lightening, his body begins to feel heavy as if he were drowning and she pulls her hand away from his cheek and he begins to worry because her hand made him feel somewhat comfortable and safe. </p>
<p>Aang sees the tears begin to fall from her eyes and he swears he can feel his body shut down organ by organ, the fear prevalent throughout the body that people would kill for because it belonged to the Avatar, he feels guilty and embarrassed that she's crying in front of him because of something that he did and all he knows is that she's leaving soon and he recalls her name from when she moaned it into his ear one night that he can't even remember. </p>
<p>She sputters and he can hear her choking up as she speaks a sentence that would change his life as he knows it, “Why did you kill me?” she inquires as if it's the most simple thing in the world but that couldn't be farthest from the truth. </p>
<p>He tries to question her but she's already gone, this world slowly fading from his vision as he wakes up in a room that couldn't be farther from what he was just in, the room was so small from his understanding it was a hut and he stumbles his way to the doorway to see if his hypothesis is true, his legs and body still weak from his conversation with the princess and especially those final words spoken to him. </p>
<p>He opens the straw door to come into view with a young girl that stops his breathing for a second, a memory of Azula flashing through his mind as he recalls her holding his hand as she screamed and shouted at everything and everyone. The girl had jet black hair that was reminiscent of the princess herself but with different eyes, these eyes were unique in the sense that he'd never seen anyone with these eyes except one person. </p>
<p>Himself.</p>
<p>The girl looks at him with pure uncorrupted love and he feels like he's too foolish to understand what's going on but there's a growing assumption on who's child this is and he truly is confused.</p>
<p>“Hello, Daddy.” the girl says to him with a smile so wide and love radiating from it that Aang can't help but smile back but deep down he's as confused as anyone could be in his situation. </p>
<p>The girl looks into his hut then back at him with a stare that's almost too perfect to not be Azula, “Mommy said it's time for you to come with us. Back where you belong, with the two of us.” she says cheerfully but with such finality that he seriously thinks this is Azula reincarnated. </p>
<p>She reaches out with her hand and he grabs onto it with a grip that he hopes she won't let go, his mind still locked onto the possible assumption that this young girl was his and Azula’s child. </p>
<p>But he killed Azula, that's what she told him. </p>
<p>Didn't he?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. the choir before the storm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>--- <em>Four Years Prior</em> ---</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aang concentrates, as hard as humanly possible and then some, the flame in his hand sputtering as he sees the orange-reddish color begin to turn into a bluish hue. He feels the energy swarming throughout his body and into his hand, the memory of Azula telling him he needs to focus all of his anger into the source of his firebending, the flame finally turning into a blue flame that is reminiscent of Azula’s but without the strength or liability she has without even trying.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The flame gives and all he's left with is his body dripping in sweat and growing impatience in his firebending. He’d been practicing with the former princess for over a year and the best he's accomplished was a small blue flame that was a joke in comparison to his normal firebending. Azula had always told him that he couldn’t be the best avatar that he strived to be without complete mastery of firebending and for some reason he believed her. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aang never thought he would see the day where he believed someone who had tried to <em>murder</em> him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Surprisingly, that day came exactly three years after he had her sent to a mental institution. Zuko had wanted her locked up and sent to prison along with his father but Aang knew that was the fear of the two of them talking for him more than how he actually felt for his sister. This was the only time throughout Zuko’s reign of being the firelord that they had a serious argument and it was for Azula’s arrangement. Aang usually never advocated for people who were consensually deemed as an ‘evil person’, but something about the former princess made him advocate for her and being the most important person in the world gave him the ability to save her from the prison. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Him and Zuko came to a consensus and she would be sent to a mental institution until she was deemed healthy by the doctors that would be chosen specifically to help her. When the news spread of this revelation he knew that his former band of friends would be disappointed but he truly didn't care, Aang saw something in those golden eyes that practically shined in the daylight, there was something worth saving in her and he would find out what it was even if it cost him his friends or worse. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>After she was transferred to the designated place, he had begun to visit her after a few years. It had started as once a month then it grew into something more than that, it turned into weekly than almost daily and it would've been <em>every</em> day if Appa didn't need rest. He could see the growth of when she was first that angry and focused teenage girl who was the daughter of someone who expected more than she was capable of giving, to what she was becoming. Apart of him was telling him that she was still the same, that evil princess who had attempted to kill him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Almost</em> was the word he focused on.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She almost killed him, but she didn't accomplish that goal. He was still alive and thriving while she was stuck in her own head because of someone who probably never cared about her in the first place and only saw her as a pawn. This was why he started visiting her even though he knew he already did his part in her recovery, he knew that she needed something other than simple treatment and he trusted himself more than any doctor or specialist in that position. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Eventually, she'd come up with a proposition for him to help him with his firebending and he accepted it. She'd train with him in the morning and even some nights in her room that had begun to grow on him just as much as Azula herself had. He'd practically begun to live in her room with how much he was in it and even started to sneak her out of it some nights after a tense training session to go visit nearby springs with the help of Appa. He knew that he had the ability to take her out of the mental institution with a simple visit to Zuko but he had yet to even attempt it because he knew what would happen. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She would leave him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was selfish and he knew it but he truly appreciated the time spent with her and how much they helped each other, Aang knew it would all come to an end though when he gave her the ability to leave at free will. He knew that she didn't care as much about him as he did of her, approaching her with a discussion of this was impossible because there was no point in it. One day while writing a letter to Zuko to keep him up to date with how he was doing and his sister, he looked over to see that she was reading a book and she looked at peace, her black hair with strands covering her forehead and a robe that reminded him of ones he would see Zuko wearing whenever he visited him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She'd been locked in this institution for longer than she probably needed due to a selfish reason and one that was quite stupid in the grand scheme of things. He’d done this for her and she didn't owe him anything, she didn't accomplish her goal of killing him and that was a bigger debt than most. So he told Zuko to set her free, let her live her life as a part of society because deep down he knew she was capable of being integrated again, he <em>believed</em> even if it was to his disappointment. He'd left the next day with a simple goodbye that seemed as if he were coming back, but he never did. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aang knew she would be gone by the time he got back and he hoped that she would be ok, because that's all he could do. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>It'd been months and still no sight of her, it pained him and he had no clue why because this wasn't supposed to be about him. He'd seen her grow from a broken girl into someone who was beautiful in their own way, his mission was complete but he still couldn't help but feel empty. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Wiping the sweat off his face, he looked at his hand again and smiled in thought of Azula before turning around to head back into the temple. He'd been replenishing the temple and cleaning it for the last few months ever since Azula had been released. He would've done it shortly after the war ended but he’d become too enamored with his mission of helping the princess and he lost track of himself along the way. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>While walking back to the temple he witnessed the last person he thought he would ever see again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Azula.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hello, Avatar.” she says simply as if the last time they'd spoken a word to another wasn't over eight months ago. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He looks around in confusion to see his acolytes going along their business as if the former princess of the fire nation wasn't in their vicinity. Aang assumes they never noticed her but he honestly wouldn't be surprised if she had just got here. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Azula?” he questions, still in awe that she was here when he was just reminiscing of their short but lengthy time together, “What in the world are you doing here?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She appears to be taken aback but it doesn't linger long on her face as she speaks, “Obviously, I’m here to speak to you.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Speak to me?” he has no clue on why she would ever need to speak to him again, he thought that she would be in a loving relationship already with motherly duties full on her plate, not looking for someone who'd fled from her because he was afraid of being left behind. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Avatar, why else would I be granting you with my presence?” she rolls her eyes and walks over to him and grasps his hand as if this was a usual occurrence and drags him towards the temple, “Who would've known it would take months for me to find you, if I were guessing you must've been hiding from me.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He's still stuck on the fact that she's holding onto his hand as she physically pulls up him with the weak help of his legs, the fact that she also says he was hiding from her shows that she's smarter than most people would think. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“If you were looking for me I'm sure Zuko would've told you where I was.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Trust me I did, my dear brother denied to answer though. Thankfully, that blind girl that you used to talk about told me where you were currently located. It only took me so long because I didn't have any transportation.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aang appreciates the help from Zuko but clearly it wasn't good enough because of course Toph would be the one to tell Azula of all the people where he was at. He assumed that she had some sort of trust in Azula to tell her or maybe Toph just wanted payback for not visiting the blind woman herself in months. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Uh… you still haven't said why you are here.” he says while scratching his head with his freehand and finally entering the temple to see her leading him directly into his office and he's confused that she even knows where it's located when she must've just got here.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She guides him over to his desk and finally lets go of his hand before she looks up to him with a smirk, “You've grown, not that long ago you were my height.” she then roams along his body with her eyes and he can't help but shiver from the stare that she gives him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Azula… can you answer me?” Aang says and he swears his voice doesn't crack from the way that she's still looking at him. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Last time I checked you are <em>the</em> last airbender and I'm positive that you need to change that sooner rather than later.” she takes a finger and runs it across his forehead before tapping it twice, “I'm sure you know how you can accomplish this feat. I also know that you need another person and I'm willing to help.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He swears his face doesn't turn red but he ignores that as he focuses on what she just implied. There was no way that he would be able to go through with what she just said and he was utterly puzzled that she would even attempt to tell him this. Azula was the last person in the world he would think would be ok with being the person to birth the future of the airbender generation, especially since it was him and not an ordinary airbender. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Zuko had approached him one day with the idea of impregnating women who would be willing to have his children but that always seemed like a last ditch resort and even then he didn't think he had the mental capability to do that. He couldn't possibly think about being intimate with someone who presumably didn't love him and only looked at him because he was the Avatar. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This was why Azula approaching him with this in mind baffled him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“What?... Azula are you joking?” he seriously thinks she's out of her mind but the way she says it makes him think more and more she's being serious.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Of course I'm joking.” she says this with a tone of voice that makes him think the opposite, “I didn't come here on the back of some creature that I've never even read about or seen to be sent back empty handed.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I can't do that to you and you know that.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She furrows her eyebrows and he becomes trapped in those golden eyes once more, “Why not?” she asks, “Am I not good enough?” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>He throws his hands out in exasperation, “When have I ever said you weren't good enough?” he shouts in pure confusion but without malice intent, “Azula, you know why I can't do that to you.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Tell me <em>why</em>.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“You don't love me and I don't love you.” that second part was probably a lie but that's besides the point he’s trying to make. He needs her to understand he can't do this with someone who doesn't see him as something more than just Avatar Aang. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She scoffs and turns around, he looks at her black hair that he knows must've been cut in these recent weeks. “You <em>have</em> to be an idiot.” she mumbles under her breath and he almost misses it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“An idiot?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yes, an idiot.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aang has never been called an idiot before by someone and he's not surprised it's Azula to be the first one to call him that. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She turns around with a new resolve on her face and a sad smile that he can't help but frown at, “If you want me to love you, so be it.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Thank you!” he sighs because he knows that this was a crazy idea in the first place and it's better for her to forget about him... “Wait <em>what</em>?” he shouts because he swears she just said the complete opposite of what he expected. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“See you later, avatar.” Azula says as she walks out of the office and blows him a kiss as he's still stuck in place. His mouth is wide open as he watches her close the door behind her and his mind is still running laps trying to comprehend. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Aang swears that he's going insane.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Let me know if you guys are still interested as I have some plans for this story, also would like to know if shorter chapters with faster release times (2-5k words within a week) or longer chapters with longer release times (5-10k words up to two weeks) are better. Note that I probably won't take exactly up to two weeks but that just allows me some leeway in case it does. </p>
<p>Next chapter will probably be a little delayed as I wait to know which is preferred but I still wanted to get this chapter out today for the comments that I've received in such a short span of time. </p>
<p>Once again, thank you.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know, I know. Short chapter but I just wanted to get this out there to know if there was any interest in this type of story, I'm aiming towards a mainly Azulaang story with some cameos of the other members of Team Avatar and of course the other characters that aren't apart of Team Avatar. </p>
<p>This story will take place over many years with the use of flashbacks as Aang tries to understand the gap between his dream with Azula and waking up in the hut with his daughter dragging him seemingly to Azula herself, also the dream with Azula will be a major aspect of the story especially as I will unpack it and we will find out if it was actually a dream or if it actually happened in the real word. Once again, if you have any type of interest in reading more let me know in the comments and I'll start working on the second chapter as soon as possible.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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